Writing instruments, such as pens, pencils and the like have an elongated tubular shape. The tubular shape can have any one of a variety of cross-sectional configurations, including circular, hexagonal, triangular or the like. Anyone who has ever visited a stationery store, walked down the school supply aisle of a mass merchandiser, or spent time in an office supply store recognizes that writing instruments such as pens and pencils exist in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, and also recognizes that most writing instruments are primarily linear in their configuration.
Back in the mid-1980s, the Applicant invented a writing instrument that was bent into decorative shapes. These decorative shapes were achieved by starting with a standard, linear pen or pencil that was made from a thermo-formable material. In this regard, standard pencils were not useable, since most pencils contain a wood casing that is not readily bendable or shapeable under the influence of heat. The Applicant heated one end of the thermo-formable, generally linearly writing instrument to a point wherein the material from which the body of the instrument was made was “soft” and pliable enough to be bendable, and thereby formable into a decorative portion.
The Applicant found that an interiorly residing mold-type device could be used as a template around which to bend the heated and pliable writing instrument to form the writing instrument into a desired shape that was consistent from instrument to instrument. Among the first shapes that the Applicant made was a pencil having an eraser (distal) end portion that was formed into a shape that resembled a heart. The finished pencil had a heart-shaped top portion, and a generally linearly extended bottom (proximal) portion that was capable of being sharpened, gripped by a user and employed as a conventional writing instrument.
Although the Applicant first employed his invention with pencils, he later found that stick-type pens could also be employed to create pen-type writing instruments having decorative shapes. The Applicant found, through experimentation, that the best results were achieved by employing elongated stick-type pens that had a length longer than a standard stick pen, so that the final product would comprise a pen having a normal length linear portion to which was added the decorative head portion.
In the ensuing years, the Applicant has employed a wide variety of molds to create a wide variety of shapes, that include shapes as diverse as hockey sticks, alligators, T-shirts, numerals, sharks, pets and inanimate objects. A sampling of the variety of shapes that the Applicant has employed in his decorative writing instruments can be viewed at www.bentcil.com.
One type of pen having a decoratively-shaped head the Applicant sells is a display insert-containing writing instrument. The display insert-containing writing instrument is a writing instrument wherein the decorative head portion includes a shaped hoop portion. A generally planar card-like display insert is captured by the radially inwardly facing surface of the hoop portion. The hoop can assume any number of a variety of shapes, such as the shape of a frog, a circular shape, a shark-like shape or the like. The display insert comprises a shaped plastic card on which is printed a picture or a message, such as a picture of a flag, a picture of a frog, or a message such as “I love you”. Once printed, the card stock is laminated with a plastic coating to improve the aesthetic appearance of the card and its durability.
Prior to the instant invention, such display insert-containing writing instruments were produced by the Applicant. An example of such prior art display-containing writing instrument is the flag-shaped writing instrument 10 that is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and that will be described below.
Turning now to FIGS. 1 and 2, prior art writing instrument 10 is shown as being formed from a unitary pen barrel 12, that includes a generally linear lower portion 13.
A decoratively shaped head portion 16 is disposed at the proximal end of the writing instrument 10. The decoratively shaped head portion 16 is planarly hoop-shaped to enclose a planar, card-like display insert 20 having a front face 21 on which a first message design or picture can be displayed, and a rear face 23 on which a second message or picture can be displayed. The second message or picture can be identical to the first message or picture shown on the front face 21.
A colorant (e.g. ink) dispenser tip 18 is disposed adjacent to the proximal end 19 of the pen barrel 12. Preferably, the ink dispenser tip 18 is coupled to an ink containing cartridge (not shown), that is usually cylindrical in shape, and is disposed within the hollow interior of the pen barrel 12. The ink cartridge (not shown) is fluidly coupled to the ink dispensing tip 18, so that ink from the cartridge can flow through the ink dispensing tip 18, and thereby can be dispensed on a writing surface, such as a sheet of paper, by an ink dispensing member that is a component of the ink dispenser.
The ink dispensing member usually comprises a ball, of a ballpoint-type pen. Alternately, it may comprise a gel applicator, felt-tip ink dispenser or nib for a fountain or cartridge type pen. Ink dispenser 18 includes a radially outwardly facing surface that is compression or press-fit into the pen barrel 12, so that the radially outwardly facing surface of the ink dispenser 18 is securely and snugly received by the radially inwardly facing surface of the pen barrel 12 that defines the hollow passageway therethrough.
The distal end of the pen barrel 12 terminates at a distal end 24. Importantly, in the prior art device, the distal end 24 of the pen barrel 12 is not connected to the adjacent portion of the pen barrel, thereby defining a gap 25 that exists between the distal end of the pen barrel 12 and the adjacent portion of the pen barrel.
As discussed above, the head portion 16 forms a generally ring-like hoop, that in the prior art embodiment shown in FIG. 1 takes a shape of a flag. The distally disposed head portion 16 includes an outwardly facing surface 22 that faces generally radially outwardly and a radially inwardly facing surface 26. When the device is formed, the radially inwardly facing surface includes a perimetral groove 30 for receiving the edges of the display, such as the top edge 32, and the bottom edge 34.
In order to form the prior art pen shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a generally linearly extending, cylindrical pen barrel 12 is provided. The distal portion of the pen barrel 12 is inserted into a heater to heat the distal portion of the pen 10 to a point wherein the head portion 16 is bendable. The head portion 16 is then wrapped around an interior mold having a shape generally similar to the shape of the head portion 16. The interior mold includes a raised ridge or bead, so that when the head portion 16 is wrapped around the interior mold, the groove 30 is formed in the radially inwardly facing surface 26. The exterior mold is then applied against the exterior surface to cause it to become flattened, and to cause the head portion to press tightly against the interior mold to thereby form a distinct shape.
In this process, the inwardly facing surface 26 and outwardly facing surface 22 become flattened from their prior cylindrical shape. This causes an interior cavity to take on a relatively flattened oblong configuration, that differs from the original cylindrical configuration of the generally linear pen barrel 12. When so formed, the interior of the portion 16 is sized to have an interior area that is slightly smaller than the area of the display card 20.
To attach the display card 20 to the pen 10, the distal end 24 of the pen is pulled outwardly, and the display card 24 is inserted in the groove 30. Because the plastic of the head portion 16 of the pen barrel has memory, and since the area of the head portion 16 is smaller than the area of the display unit 20, the distal end 24 of the pen springs back when released, to engage the display unit 20. Due to the relatively over-sized nature of the display unit 20, the display unit 20 is held within the interior hoop of the head portion 16 by the spring force exerted by the head portion 16 of the barrel 12.
Although the above-referenced pen and the process of making it serve to create a very useful and attractive device, room for improvement exists. In particular, room for improvement exists in providing a device and method that overcomes some of the problems that were experienced during the manufacture of the pen.
One difficulty that was experienced was forming the groove 30. During the process by which the head portion was bent around the interior mold, it is important to maintain the head portion in a planar relationship. Often, this was difficult to achieve. When the pen was formed, if the head portion 16 was not formed in a manner wherein it was almost perfectly planar, portions of the groove would be linearly off-set from each other. This results in the plane of the display unit 20 being formed so that it was not parallel to the major planes of the head portion 16. Viewed another way, an off-setting of the grooves 30 in different portions of the groove would cause display unit 20 to become not perfectly perpendicular to the inwardly facing surface 26 of the head portion 16.
In some cases, the head portion 16 would assume a wave-like configuration, that detracted significantly from the appearance of the pen. In particular, the head portion 16 could look uneven, disproportionate, and non-controlled.
Another difficulty in forming a pen according to the prior art springs from the required depth of the groove. In order to appropriately seat and retain the display unit card 20, the groove had to have a certain depth sufficient to receive the edges, 32, 34 of the display unit sufficiently deeply so that the display unit 20 would not become disengaged from the head portion 16.
In order to make a groove having a significant depth, the manufacturer was forced to ensure that thickness ‘T’ (FIG. 2) of the head portions was large enough to accommodate a groove of the desired and necessary depth. Unfortunately, using head portion 16 with a thickness T made it difficult to form portions having complex shapes, since the thickness reduced the ability of the manufacturer to form bends and curves having small radii of curvature. This difficulty was often experienced when complex shapes, such as, for example, outlines of the state of Texas, or an outline of the United States were made. Although such shapes were formable, the ability of the manufacture to define curves and bends that are desirable to best represent such complex designs were significantly limited.
A third difficulty experienced with this particular process results from the use of a gap between the distal end of the pen 24 and the adjoining portion of the pen barrel. The spring held nature of the head portion 16 (as discussed above) tended to hold the display units in place. However, the types of shapes that could be formed were often limited by the nature of the shape, as some shapes did not lend themselves securely holding the display unit in place. This difficulty was caused by the hinging movement of the head portion, and expansion of the plastic pen material that would occur because of changes in temperature. In more intricate designs, dimension changes that did occur, would make it more difficult to form a “spring fit” that was engineered well enough to securely and reliably hold the insert in place. For example, if the interior of the head portion 16 “hoop” were too large, the display unit would often rattle within the unit. Additionally, inconsistencies during the manufacture of making each unit exactly alike caused similarly shaped hoops to often have gaps of different sizes, thus detracting from a consistent appearance of the products, and detracting from the overall attractiveness of the products.
It is therefore one object of the present invention to provide a device that overcomes the problems discussed above, and that results in a product having the desired aesthetic characteristics.